Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: canoe polo

Waterways Ireland wishes to advises all masters of vessels on and users of the Royal Canal that a canoe polo event will be taking place in Kilcock Harbour this Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 September.

In order to facilitate the event, navigation in this area will be very restricted from 3pm on Friday 15 September to 7pm on Sunday 17 September.

Vessels should move away from any of the moorings in the harbour area for the duration of the event, and will only be able to navigate past the event if allowed to proceed by the event organisers between event activities through a prior arrangement.

Masters of vessels are therefore requested to proceed with additional caution in the vicinity of the event and to obey any instructions given by event stewards, the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways adds.

This story was updated on Friday 15 September to reflect the updated dates of the canoe polo event.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland wishes to advises all masters of vessels on and users of the Royal Canal that a canoe polo event will be taking place in Kilcock Harbour this Sunday 18 June.

In order to facilitate the event, navigation in this area will be very restricted from 3pm on Saturday 17 June to 7pm on Sunday 18 June.

Vessels should move away from any of the moorings in the harbour area for the duration of the event, and will only be able to navigate past the event if allowed to proceed by the event organisers between event activities through a prior arrangement.

Masters of vessels are therefore requested to proceed with additional caution in the vicinity of the event and to obey any instructions given by event stewards, the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways adds.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels and waterways users on the Royal Canal that the following canoe polo events will take place in Mullingar Harbour during the summer months of 2023:

  • Junior Canoe Polo Competition - Sunday 21 May
  • National Club Championships – 8-9 July
  • Overload Canoe Polo Camp – 25-27 August

Masters of vessels are requested to moor outside the harbour area on these dates in order to facilitate the canoe polo events, the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways adds.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters and owners of vessels on the Royal Canal that the Canoe Polo Club Championship will be taking place in Mullingar Harbour this weekend, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 July between 8am and 5pm each day.

Masters of craft are requested to proceed at slow speed and with minimum wash and note any directions issued by the stewards. The harbour should also be kept clear of moored vessels during this time, adds the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels and users of the Royal Canal of another canoe polo event in Mullingar Harbour this Saturday 18 June.

The event will take place from 7am to 6.30pm and the harbour should be kept clear of any moored vessels during this time.

Masters of craft are requested to proceed at slow speed and with minimum wash and note any directions issued by the stewards, adds the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters and owners of vessels on the Royal Canal that a further canoe polo event will be taking place in Mullingar Harbour this weekend, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 May.

A subsequent event will be held on the weekend of Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June, with competition scheduled between 10am and 4pm each day.
 
Masters of craft are requested to proceed at slow speed and with minimum wash and note any directions issued by the stewards. The harbour should be kept clear of moored vessels during this time, adds the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels and users of the Royal Canal that a canoe polo event will be taking place in Mullingar Harbour on Sunday 8 May from 9am to 5pm.

Masters of craft are requested to proceed at slow speed and with minimum wash and note any directions issued by the stewards. The harbour should be kept clear of moored vessels during this time.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises all masters and users of the Royal Canal that canoe polo events will take place in the vicinity of the harbour in Mullingar this weekend, 27-28 September and the following Sunday, 4 October.

Boat movements in the area will be restricted on the inland waterway for the duration of the events. Masters of vessels should navigate the area with caution and comply with guidance from marshals.

Further information may be obtained from Mullingar Harbour Canoe Polo at 086 244 62 20.

Published in Inland Waterways

#Canoeing: Kilcock Canoe Polo Club is hosting the National Junior Competition in the newly re-opened Kilcock Harbour on Sunday, May 14th.

This event will see 120 players aged between 10 and 19 compete, with teams coming from around the country, North and South, together to play this exciting team sport.

Canoe Polo is like Water Polo, but with the added excitement of the players being in boats. Players pass the ball between a team of five players and shoot at the opponents goal suspended over the water. The club operates from the Harbour making this an exciting spectacle for the town.

Kilcock has a  history of Canoe Polo, with the club starting in 1998. The club caters for all ages from six to over 60 and has complete beginners looking to have fun and develop some skills, as well as more serious athletes - Kilcock players frequently represent Ireland on National teams and the club is running beginner courses every Wednesday evening.

Kildare County Council have supported and worked with the Kilcock Canoe Polo Club on the re-opening of the Harbour for amenity use, and are kindly sponsoring this competition in association with the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office.

Published in Canoeing

#Festivals - "Tens of thousands" of visitors are expected to flock to the City of the Tribes later this month for the first Galway Sea Festival over the June bank holiday weekend, according to the Galway Advertiser.

Dubbed the 'Mini-Volvo' by locals, the four-day event from 31 May till 3 June is hoped to recreate the celebratory atmosphere of last summer's successful Volvo Ocean Race finale, with a wide range of events both on and off the waters of Galway Bay.

Highlights include the festival regatta led by the Galway Bay Sailing Club's parades of sail on the Friday and Saturday evenings, and a traditional boat regatta by Badoiri na Cladaigh.

Watersports enthusiasts can get a taste of canoeing, diving, sea kayaking and windsurfing over the weekend, which also coincides with World Oceans Day - with family-friendly activities at the Galway Atlantaquaria on Sunday 2 June - and the International Canoe Polo Championships at Claddagh Basin.

Preceding the festival on Thursday 30 May will be the Bright Blue Sea Conference, a major international symposium on marine science, renewable energy, the environment and the 'blue economy'.

Last month it was reported that the Galway Sea Festival received the financial backing of Galway City Council, spurred by its aims to promote Galway as a maritime destination or commerce and tourism.

The Galway Advertiser has much more on the festival HERE.

Published in Maritime Festivals
Page 1 of 2

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]